A farmer went out in the morning to plow the “south forty”. He started early to oil the tractor. He needed more oil so he went to the shop to get it. On the way he noticed the pigs weren’t fed. He went to the corncrib, where he found some sacks. That reminded him that the potatoes were sprouting. He started for the potato pit. As he passed the woodpile, he remembered his wife wanted wood in the house. As he picked up a few sticks, an ailing chicken passed. He dropped the wood and reached for the chicken. When evening arrived, he still had not gotten the tractor to the field, his wife did not have the wood she needed and so time goes on.
I am sure many of you have heard this parable or variations of it. Let’s put this parable in the context of project management and focus on the lessons learned. Project management is the process of acquiring, organizing, and coordinating personnel and material resources in order to ensure that a deliverable is completed on time, within budget, and in accordance to specifications. Emphasized in this parable are five key areas of Project Management—things the farmer really did not pay attention to. Below are several questions/considerations to help manage these areas.
Determine what is wanted from your time.
“If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there” (Alice in Wonderland).
This should be determined at the very beginning of any project. Your client/sponsor may have the answers to all of your questions, and if not, it will give you an opportunity to define the answers yourself.
- What is the deliverable desired by client (e.g. instructor-led course, web-based tutorial, etc.)?
- Who will be the end user (target audience) and what do they need to be able to do?
- What is your scope of authority (i.e. can you make decisions or do you need to check in with the sponsor)?
Identify political issues that you may face.
“You cannot antagonize and influence at the same time” (John Knox).
By identifying any political issues, you can determine how easy or hard it will be for you to get the needed resources. Additionally, it will help you position your project to achieve maximum support.
- Is this program high profile?
- What are the other mandates within the organization?
- How many people/units/departments will be impacted?
Put time in where it counts most.
“Time is the most valuable thing that a man can spend” (Diogenes Laertius).
Before you finish your project plan, there are a few major areas that you have to consider to ensure success.
- What are the priorities of your client (i.e. time, budget, quality)?
- How much time do you have until the deadline?
- Can you focus on the critical design tasks?
Plan carefully, on paper, how you will use your time.
“For every minute spent in organizing, an hour is earned” (Anon).
This is probably not the only project you are working on and you probably don’t have all the time you need. Putting your plan in writing will help with the updates to your client/sponsor, managing your time and the time of the project team, and identifying areas where additional support is needed.
- What are the constraints?
- Have you prioritized this project among the other projects you are working on?
- What are the imposed deadlines?
- Do you have enough/the right resources?
- What will by your milestones?
- Have you put the schedule on paper (i.e. chart the schedule)?
Delegate well.
“It takes a wise man to discover a wise man” (Diogenes Laertius).
Sometimes we have to perform every role. Other times we can get the project completed with the help of other people. Regardless of the situation, identifying the key players is critical to the project’s success.
- Have you identified staffing requirements and resources?
- Do you need additional staff?
- Does the potential project team have the skill necessary to do the task(s)?
- Are they available to do the task(s)?
- Do you need to request additional staff/resources?
- Should you outsource some or all of the tasks?
By addressing the questions above, and remembering that communication and documentation are important to project management, you will be able to manage the project—not have the project manage you. A project is complete when it starts working for you, rather than you working for it. Project management for Trainers can help you with this and more.
Martha
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